| Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret | |
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 Promotional release poster | |
| Directed by | |
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| Cinematography | Keegan Kuhn |
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Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $117,092 |
Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret (also known as simplyCowspiracy) is a 2014 Americandocumentary film produced and directed byKip Andersen andKeegan Kuhn. The film explores the impacts ofanimal agriculture on the environment—examining such environmental concerns asclimate change,water use,deforestation, andocean dead zones—and investigates the policies of several environmental organizations on the issue.
The film won the Audience Choice Award at the 2015 South African Eco Film Festival[1] and the Best Foreign Film Award at the 12th annualFestival de films de Portneuf sur l'environnement [fr].[2]Cowspiracy has been criticized for asserting that animal agriculture is the primary source ofgreenhouse gas emissions and environmental destruction,[3] with one source assessing the impact as being less than is stated in the film.[4]
The documentary was directed byKip Andersen andKeegan Kuhn, and explores the impact ofanimal agriculture on the environment, and investigates the policies ofenvironmental organizations on this issue. Environmental organizations investigated in the film includeGreenpeace,Sierra Club,Surfrider Foundation,Rainforest Action Network, andOceana.[5][6][7][8]
The film wascrowdfunded onIndiegogo, with 1,449 contributors giving $117,092. This funding was 217% of their goal, and it allowed them to dub the film into Spanish and German and subtitle it into more than 10 other languages, including Chinese and Russian.[9][10] Screenings are licensed through the distributor, as well as through the now-defunctTugg Inc. website.[11]
An updated version of the documentary, executive-produced byLeonardo DiCaprio, premiered globally onNetflix on September 15, 2015.[12]
The 2017 documentaryWhat the Health was written, produced, and directed by the same production team (Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn) asCowspiracy.[13]
The following individuals were featured in the film:
Cowspiracy won the Audience Choice Award at the 2015 South African Eco Film Festival,[1] as well as the Best Foreign Film Award at the 12th annual Festival de films de Portneuf sur l'environnement.[2] It was also nominated forCinema Politica's 2015 Audience Choice Award.[14]
Cowspiracy has been criticized for claiming that animal agriculture is the primary source ofgreenhouse gases.[3]
Doug Boucher, reviewing the film for theUnion of Concerned Scientists blog, disputed the film's assertion that 51% of global greenhouse gases are caused by animal agriculture. He described the 51% figure as being sourced from a 2009Worldwatch Institute report by Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang not from apeer-reviewed scientific paper. He claimed to have observed methodological flaws in Goodland and Anhang's logic, and said that the scientific communityformed a consensus thatglobal warming is primarily caused by humanity's burning offossil fuels. He stated that the scientific consensus is that livestock contribute 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions, far lower than the 51% stated by the film and the source article.[4]
